Bypass protests and counter 'statements'

Last week drivers along Highway 101 south of Willits were greeted on the east side by people and signs protesting the pending bypass and on the west side by a large sign supporting the bypass.

Kurt Ackermann decided he had to make a statement on the bypass, and chose to spend a few hours parked on Highway 101 to do it.

Ackermann wanted to make it clear he was not protesting, he was simply making a statement.

"We spent over 50 years deciding what to build," says Ackermann. "We needed a bypass and finally got the money to do it. Then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave it to Southern California.

"The community then got together and worked to get it back," says Ackermann. "We looked at 17 different routes in a lot of heated meetings to end up where we are. We need to get these trucks off of Main Street. Now we have the money, let's just build it."

Ackermann recently had a heart attack and just returned to Willits after spending time in a hospital in St. Helena when he decided he had to make his statement.

Across the highway from Ackermann, Warbler remains in her protest tree. The high point in the past few weeks for her, besides CalTrans heading back to the drawing board, was the visit by a class from the Tree of Life Montessori School. Warbler used a walkie-talkie to read the Dr. Seuss book, "The Lorax," to the youngsters. The students ate a picnic lunch and then left to meet with the CalTrans Project Manager Geoffrey Wright to get his point of view.

Warbler has not lacked for company this week, with people showing up at all hours to serenade her with home spun songs or just to wave in support. Despite the influx of people Warbler notes, she feels an "odd sense of isolation" as she perches 70 feet in the air.

She is encouraged by the current CalTrans delay saying, "The birds will protect the trees." Warbler hopes everyone will take the bypass footprint tour to educate themselves about the project.

As of press time, she was preparing for the arrival of the first storm system in weeks, relying on her tarps and sleeping bags to keep her dry and warm. Recent reports of her feelings of nausea caused by the tree swaying in the wind have prompted a host of homeopathic remedies from the community.